Replaced by a Robot:Service Implications in the Age of the Machine

Abstract

Service organizations, emboldened by the imperative to innovate, are increasingly introducing robots to frontline service encounters. However, as they augment or substitute human employees with robots, they may struggle to convince a distrusting public of their brand’s ethical credentials. Consequently, this article develops and tests a holistic framework to ascertain a deeper understanding of customer perceptions of frontline service robots (FLSRs) than has previously been attempted. Our experimental studies investigate the effects of the (1) role (augmentation or substitution of human employees or no involvement) and (2) type (humanoid FLSR vs. self-service machine) of FLSRs under the following service contexts: (a) value creation model (asset-builder, service provider) and (b) service type (experience, credence). By empirically establishing our framework, we highlight how customers’ personal characteristics (openness-to-change and preference for ethical/responsible service provider) and cognitive evaluations (perceived innovativeness, perceived ethical/societal reputation, and perceived innovativeness-responsibility fit) influence the impact that FLSRs have on service experience and brand usage intent. Our findings operationalize and empirically support seminal frameworks from extant literature, as well as elaborate on the positive and negative implications of using robots to complement or replace service employees. Further, we consider managerial and policy implications for service in the age of machines.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670520933354
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Marketing & Strategy
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The authors would like to thank the Sheffield University Management School for internal funding to collect data for this s
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.
Uncontrolled Keywords: brand usage intent,ethical/societal reputation,service experience,service innovativeness,service robots,Information Systems,Sociology and Political Science,Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Publication ISSN: 1552-7379
Last Modified: 08 Oct 2024 07:22
Date Deposited: 08 May 2024 09:53
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
https://journal ... 094670520933354 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2021-02-01
Published Online Date: 2020-06-29
Accepted Date: 2020-06-01
Authors: McLeay, Fraser
Osburg, Victoria Sophie
Yoganathan, Vignesh (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-9285-4702)
Patterson, Anthony

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